


Three Denials

by ValkyrieofArdyn



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Betrayal, Brother Betrayal, Death Sentence, Gen, Wrongly Accused, demonized, friend betrayal, imprisoned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 12:04:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13434342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValkyrieofArdyn/pseuds/ValkyrieofArdyn
Summary: Gilgamesh's failure to acknowledge his fears when faced head-on with them. Failing as a shield.





	Three Denials

“Do you recognize this fiend as your companion?”

    “No,” Gilgamesh replied while staring up at the figure suspended. Chains looped around his wrists, the sag of his body weight evident in his straining muscles. Years Gilgamesh has spent in the company of this man. Successes and failures shared. Memories more filled with him than without.

“Is he not your charge to protect?”

   “No,” Gilgamesh denied again, eyes focusing on the long gashes across the body before him. It was not crimson blood that flowed out. Instead, black ichor, thicker than blood, seeped out of the wounds. A substance Gilgamesh knew well after witnessing so many people fall to its sickness. It was evident that it had snatched away another loved one.

“Do you not serve him as your liege?”

    “I. Do. Not.” With the third denial, Gilgamesh brought his eyes up to meet the monster’s. The looked deceptively familiar. The pleading look causing him to take a deep breath. An attempt to ease the ache in his gut that he was wrong. But the sickly yellow irises looking out of black did not belong to anyone he knew. Never would he, Gilgamesh, be associated with one so corrupted. One that had no chance of redemption. 

   “Good,” said the man with the identical face of the best friend Gilgamesh lost to darkness, “Because as your first act and display of loyalty, you shall be the Accursed one’s executioner.”

     Turning away from the empty vessel that had been his friend, charge, and liege, the failed shield swallows his bitter disgrace. Ignoring its pleas for him to listen, to help, Gilgamesh looks to the first King of Lucis. “Yes, your Majesty.”

 

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/152094062@N06/25931474798/in/dateposted-public/)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Ardyn week on Tumblr in late December.  
> Love the idea that Gilgamesh had a lot of internal struggle at Ardyn being cast away and imprisoned. Ultimately being the reason he removed himself from society, training others for a while and eventually attempting to take his life. Discovering to his horror that death would not claim him until the man he swore his oath to found redemption and peace. 
> 
> Collage made by me from screenshots and official Ardyn concept art.


End file.
